Cheese Ball

INGREDIENTS
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
3 1/2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1 (1 ounce) package Ranch-style dressing mix
2 cups chopped pecans
4 pecan halves

DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, mix together cream cheese, Cheddar cheese, and dressing mix. Form into one large ball or two smaller balls. Roll in chopped pecans to coat surface. Decorate the top with pecan halves. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight.

Stuffed Mushrooms

INGREDIENTS
20 fresh mushrooms, stems removed
2 (6.5 ounce) cans minced clams, drained
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 small onion, finely chopped
3/4 cup dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
2 tablespoons dried parsley
2 tablespoons Italian-style seasoning
ground black pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups butter, melted
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9×13 inch baking dish.
Arrange mushroom caps hollow side up in the baking dish.
In a medium bowl, mix together minced clams, garlic, Parmesan cheese, onion, bread crumbs, green bell pepper, parsley, Italian-style seasoning and black pepper. Slowly stir in approximately 1/2 the butter, enough to make the mixture slightly moist.
Generously fill the mushroom caps with the clam mixture. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Drizzle with remaining butter.
Bake in the preheated oven 30 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Barbecue Muncher Mix

INGREDIENTS
4 cups Corn Chex® cereal
4 cups Wheat Chex® cereal
2 cups square-shaped cheese flavored crackers
2 cups pretzel sticks
2 cups mixed nuts or dry roasted peanuts
1/2 cup butter or margarine
4 tablespoons barbecue sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon seasoned salt

DIRECTIONS
In a large roasting pan, combine the cereals, crackers, pretzels and nuts; set aside. In a small saucepan, melt butter; stir in the barbecue sauce, Worcestershire sauce and seasoned salt until blended. Pour over cereal mixture and stir to coat.
Bake, uncovered, at 250 degrees F for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Spread on waxed paper to cool completely. Store in airtight containers.

Christmas Snack Mix

INGREDIENTS
1 (16 ounce) jar dry roasted peanuts
2 (14 ounce) packages red and green candy-coated chocolate
1 (14 ounce) package chocolate covered peanuts
1 (7 ounce) jar wheat nuts

DIRECTIONS
Mix together the peanuts, red and green candy-coated chocolate pieces, red and green candy-coated chocolate covered peanuts, chocolate covered peanuts and wheat germ nut snacks.
Serve in a large bowl or place in decorative glass jars and give as gifts.

Eggnog

4 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar, plus 1 tablespoon
1 pint whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
3 ounces bourbon
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
4 egg whites*

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the egg yolks until they lighten in color. Gradually add the 1/3 cup sugar and continue to beat until it is completely dissolved. Add the milk, cream, bourbon and nutmeg and stir to combine.
Place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat to soft peaks. With the mixer still running gradually add the 1 tablespoon of sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.
Whisk the egg whites into the mixture. Chill and serve.

Cook’s Note: For cooked eggnog, follow procedure below.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the egg yolks until they lighten in color. Gradually add the 1/3 cup sugar and continue to beat until it is completely dissolved. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan, over high heat, combine the milk, heavy cream and nutmeg and bring just to a boil, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and gradually temper the hot mixture into the egg and sugar mixture. Then return everything to the pot and cook until the mixture reaches 160 degrees F. Remove from the heat, stir in the bourbon, pour into a medium mixing bowl, and set in the refrigerator to chill.

In a medium mixing bowl, beat the egg whites to soft peaks. With the mixer running gradually add the 1 tablespoon of sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Whisk the egg whites into the chilled mixture.

It is so easy to get so distracted by everything Christmas that you could forget to thank your coworkers and classmates for being there with you throughout the year. One of the easiest ways to thank them is to remember them at Christmas time.

You do not have to spend a whole lot on your coworkers or classmates. One of the simplest gestures is to bake a cake or cookies for everyone. Make sure everyone gets a share. You don’t want to leave anyone out. They will remember this gesture.

Also if you want to and you have the money in your Christmas budget, you can get each of them a Christmas card. Just buy a box of 50-100 cards and make one out to each person you want to remember.

If you leave anyone out, be rest assured it will not be forgotten and might be held against you later the following year. If you are going to leave someone out, it is better not to do anything at all for anyone. No grudges are allowed this time of year. Go ahead and remember your enemies as well as your friends. Who knows, you might just make peace with the ones that don’t like you very much.

You would be surprised at how important music is to the holiday season. It is true that some radio stations play too much Christmas music. A lot of people are Christmas Music’d out by the time the season is over. Imagine, though, a Christmas season without Christmas music. You would not have the same feelings about Christmas as you do with it. There would be something missing.

We start listening to Christmas music the day we set up our Christmas tree. There is something about the tradition of drinking hot coco and listening to Christmas music while you’re spending quality time with your family putting up the tree.

Most of the radio stations that listen to play regular music throughout the day among the Christmas music. I don’t mind all the holiday music. I just don’t get tired of listening to it. In fact you will find me singing it at other times through the year. People always complain that it’s not Christmas yet, why are you singing Christmas songs. I just tell them that I am in a Christmas mood. Hey you are allowed to be.

Needless to say, Our Christmas CDs are one of the last things that we pack up before we move everything into the attic for the rest of the year. Listen to your music. Get into the Holiday spirit and be joyful.

Having a train set can be really easy, or it can be really hard. It all depends on what you want to accomplish with the train set.

If all you want is to set it up to run just at Christmas time, all you really need to do is set up the track on the dining room table or the coffee table. Connect all the track on a flat surface. Preferably you will want a surface that will not be used a whole lot during the holiday season. If you use your dinning room table a lot for meals, you may want to avoid setting up the train on that table. The reason being that there may be drink spills and the like (electricity and water don’t mix).

I have seen some people actually place the trains set around the Christmas tree. This would work if you were not going to place presents under there before Christmas. Otherwise you would have a hard time running the train with all the presents all over the track.

Of course the other place to set up the train set would be within your village. A train makes a wonderful addition to any village set.

The easiest way to set up your set is to connect the track and link the wires to the power supply. Place your engine on the track and connect all the cars to the engine. Plug in the power supply and turn the knob till the train starts to move.

If you place your train within your village, you can nail down the track so there is a less chance of it moving. Since you are nailing down into the Styrofoam you used as a base of your village, the nails will come up really easy when you are ready to put the train set away. If you want the train to become a permanent fixture in your home, you can nail the track to the plywood so it stays in place permanently. If you do this there are all kinds of options for your train set. I suggest you look up trains on the internet. You will find all kinds of information and layouts that will satisfy this need to build a miniature city.

This is a great Christmas collection tradition. A lot of people collect tree ornaments and those musical, singing and dancing figures, but collecting village houses can be an awesome decoration for your home.

If you are interested in collecting village houses, I suggest waiting ‘til right after Christmas. You can usually get them fairly cheap. I would buy one at a time (If you want more, ask you family to buy them for you for Christmas). This will keep the cost down as well as give you time to find that all important space to display them.

Early on in your collection, display them on a coffee table or that sofa table that you moved to the wall in the hallway because you had to move the sofa to make room for the tree. Set them up, then plug them in to a power strip.

As your collection grows, you will want to make bigger arrangements for them. Try setting up the houses on a fold-out table. Buy a large piece of Styrofoam, using it as the snow covered ground your village rests on. Then you can run the cables through the Styrofoam. You can also mount a nice train set that runs through the village.

Keep adding to the village. You can buy cars, people, animals, fences, moving ice skaters and don’t forget to include Santa Claus.

This part can actually be the most fun. I personally enjoy it because every year I get to put up something new along with all the precious decorations that I have put up in all the years past. You see, we go out and buy new decorations after Christmas when they are all on sale. Then the following year I have to figure out how I am supposed to get it all up on the extension cords that I have.

Putting up lights on the edges of the roof is an interesting problem. I have found that is the easiest to do it on top of the roof, not on a ladder. Be careful though. That fall can be deadly.

We usually hang wreaths and garland above the garage, then place more C-7 lights around the garage door.

Getting all the lawn decorations to light up can be interesting. You will find that you may need sever extension cords to scatter them throughout the yard. Be careful not to overload your circuit. You may blow a circuit breaker trying to get it all lit. This is when you find another plub (possibly from the inside of the garage. Run a cord under the door.

There are a lot of things that go into planning your Christmas party. Check out the following list and make sure you have thought about everything.

1. Make your guest list. Make sure you invite them all.
2. Make your food list. Make sure you have accurate recipes for all of them.
3. Make sure all of your decorations are up
4. Make sure you house is clean and smells good (candles are a wonderful touch)
5. Make sure the kids have something to do. They want to have fun, too.
6. Make sure you have garbage bags. Plan for your Garbage Day. I know that some Areas only pick up what fits in your cans.
7. Plan for your pets. Make sure that none is allergic. If someone is, plan to lock them up then clean the rest of the house thoroughly.
8. Provide some kind of party favor that everyone can take home. You can find some great homemade decorations that are cheap to make and are easy to personalize.
9. Prepare for parking issues. Park your cars down the street at a friends house so your guests can park in your driveway.